Irish Road Trip - Part 2

This may be the most drawn out series of posts in blogging history, but let's finish off part 2 of our Irish road trip... So I left off in the Killarney, right before we headed to Limerick. We stayed at a very cute B&B about 10 minutes outside of Limerick City. The owner was very quirky but an amazing cook, and we ate HUGE breakfasts both mornings. I love Irish soda bread. Limerick City itself is definitely not worth the visit, but it's a convenient stopping point between the south of the country and Galway, with a few sights worth fitting in.

Probably the most random place we stopped on our whole trip was the Flying Boat Museum in Foynes along the banks of the Shannon Estuary. Apparently these (literally) flying boats used to take off and land from Foynes to get to North America in the early days of trans-Atlantic travel. It was nuts reading about how they'd navigate from Ireland to Newfoundland using ships' lights - if it was too foggy or snowing they'd have to fly lower and risk hitting WAVES! The museum is really well done and very entertaining - and you get to walk around inside the Yankee Clipper! The seats are so luxuriously spaced, it's amazing.

We also headed east to the Rock of Cashel, in the heart of Co Tipperary. As you can see from the pictures we lucked out with yet another absolutely stunning day and if you are driving by this area it's well worth the visit. We stuck around for a guided tour and it definitely added a whole other dimension to the visit.
The buildings are crumbling due to a combination of age, wind damage, and - if I remember correctly - some attacks. There was one giant stone cross that had blown across the hill in a storm! I think the site also gets shut down frequently due to weather and the risk of getting clobbered by falling stone so I would recommend calling first if the weather is at all windy. It's on an isolated hill with no protection so it must get fairly brisk up there often!

Below the Rock of Cashel

Very pretty vantage point to look out across Co Tipperary

We stopped in Limerick City only once and were fairly disappointed. Again - not worth the visit!

Views across the Shannon River in Limerick City

After our second night in Limerick we headed out to County Clare for the part of the trip I was most looking forward to - the Cliffs of Moher! There's a reason why these are the "most visited natural attraction" in Ireland, they did not disappoint. Our visit probably wasn't hurt by the blue skies & mild weather either! You do have to pay to get into the 'park' but it's well worth it. There are tiny little paths that wind along the cliffs' edge (a little too close to the edge in some areas in my opinion) so you can make a full day of hiking out of it if you plan ahead. There are neighbouring villages that link up to the path where you could stop for lunch. We definitely regretted not being more organized and taking advantage of the full day hike! We still managed to wander around for a few hours, taking in the view and the crazy daredevils standing on precarious ledges. It took me a while before I could look over the edge without getting dizzy. The first picture has some other people hiking on the path to give you an idea of the scale of these cliffs, just enormous.

We finally managed to drag ourselves away from the Cliffs and headed towards Galway City for the last two nights of our trip.

Galway City is really, really cool. There is live music EVERYWHERE and the whole area seems to have retained such an authentic feel (that I think Dublin has lost!!) The city is also an excellent gateway to Connemara National Park, Diamond Hill is one of the coolest hikes we have ever done!

The view from the top of Diamond Hill (Connemara National Park)

In Galway City we stayed at the Park House Hotel, I would not recommend it I'm sure there are much more interesting options you can find. It felt like a very tired and dated Best Western, but it was in a great location in the city centre. We had one of the BEST meals I've ever had though just outside of Galway, in a restaurant recommended by our Lonely Planet called Mitchell's in Clifden. I had super fresh mussels & fries, while Pat had an amazing salmon salad creation. I'm still drooling thinking about those mussels.

On our way back to Galway City from the Park, we took a slight detour to check out another recommendation in the Lonely Planet. There is an area along the coast with white sand beaches and turquoise water called Dog's Bay Beach near Roundstone. It must be amazing in the summer when the sun is out and the water has warmed up a tiny bit! Absolutely take the time to stop here and walk around a bit - even if it is slightly out of the way.

See a sliver of the white sand beaches in the distance - the water was bright blue even with storm clouds rolling in!

We slowly made our way back to Galway City, stopping occasionally to check out the sheep dotting the landscape.

Mind the sheep!

On our last day of the trip we had to make the drive across the country (lol!) from Galway to Dublin for our flight back to London :( It was nice to be back on normal highways, but we didn't find too much to check out on our way across. The ruins at Clonmacnoise were pretty cool though and a nice stopping point midway across. We also stopped in Athlone for lunch which seems to have a burgeoning foodie culture - there were so many options! The fresh, homemade food at the Left Bank Bistro was delicious and we made the most of our last day of vacation gluttony before heading back to the real world.

We had a slightly frazzled last few minutes as we coasted into the Dublin Airport with the fuel gauge welllll below empty. We had paid the rental car company ahead of time for a tank of gas in case we were in a rush to catch our flight home, so being typical Pat and Emma we were determined to use up every last drop of the overpriced gas. In hindsight it probably would've been worth it to stop and put 5 bucks in the tank for peace of mind, but thankfully we made it and didn't break down in the middle of the busy six lane highway going towards the airport!

All in all, it was a great trip. Other than the crazy roads, Ireland is a great country for a weeklong road trip. We regret not seeing Northern Ireland and especially the Giant's Causeway, but I'd be more than happy to make a return trip in the future!

Stayed tuned for recaps on our short trip to the Lake District and Madrid... I'm heading home to Canada for 10 days at the end of June and then moving to Brussels for a 4 week internship this summer so busy busy!! We are running out of weekends for the remaining 3000 trips on our bucket list this year...